Trump floats an end to foreign trade barriers completely…Open Thread for June 9, 2018…

Stuck in a meeting with the leaders of the planets biggest industrial countries….

Fighting with them over trade and how to deal with Russia….

Donald Trump offers a surrender?

He mumbles about getting rid of trade barriers…..A lunge the opposite way he has been known to think…..

Oh, It sounded like the guy meant ALL trade barriers…..

We’ll see how this plays….

President Donald Trump on Friday floated the idea of ending all tariffs and trade barriers between the U.S. and its G-7 allies — an unexpected pitch that comes amid a tit-for-tat trade war Trump recently launched.

Trump offered the aspirational proposal at the end of a contentious meeting on trade disputes at the G-7 summit in Quebec, an annual gathering of the leaders from seven major industrialized nations. During the private gathering, Europe’s major economic powers pushed back hard against Trump’s repeated assertions that the U.S. is a victim of unfair trade practices.

“We should at least consider no tariffs, no barriers — scrapping all of it,” Trump said, according to officials who were listening and taking notes.

Trump floated the idea — which was received as somewhat rhetorical — as the meeting was breaking up and was quickly challenged by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who asked, “What about subsidies?”

The other G-7 leaders — from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, as well as the presidents of the European Commission and European Council — have been trying to impress upon Trump the complexity of trade issues, insisting that his oft-repeated complaint about the trade imbalance between the U.S. and allies on many manufactured goods is only part of the picture….

…

European leaders, who had met to coordinate how they would handle the combustible American president, pushed back hard, but also heaped praise on Trump, hoping to butter him up. For example, they told Trump that millions of European citizens own Apple iPhones….

(1) In addition to subsidies, there are the so-called “non-tariff barriers” to consider, such as health, safety and environmental controls on imports and exports.

In trying to abolish internal trade barriers, the European Union had to establish a rather complex, sprawling and intrusive EU-wide regulatory régime, just as the U.S., in abolishing interstate trade barriers, takes responsibility for product safety and shared responsibility for food safety and labor standards.

However, establishing such a régime across the whole G-7 (the EU + the UK, the US, Canada & Japan) would be anathema to the sovereigntist ideas of Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are small-government when it suits them.

The BEST one is Trump telling the leaders the US would Stop trading with them?

Sure the leaders agreed we that ALL countries protect certain industries
But Trump coming at them HARD is simply something they canNOT accept in public
And Trump IS about beating down EVERYONE in public

Trade deals do not HAVE to require the. factors DSD mentioned and in at least some circumstances they shouldn’t. Otherwise, poorer countries might find it difficult to compete on almost anything. Shirts are Made in Honduras because workers there provide cheap labor. Otherwise, there would be even fewer jobs in that country than there are now. Food safety is a different issue, but sonethimes the excuse is really political to protect local farmers.

(1) That¦s what makes non-tariff barriers so difficult to manage, as was shown in the negotiations leading up to the World Trade Organization (a.k.a. GATT v. 2).

One of the elements that made the Left so wary of both the WTO and TPP (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) is the arbitration mechanism that corporations can use to appeal, and in some cases override, standards and regulations that they consider to be disguised economic restraints on trade.

(2) Zreebs’ point about the comparative advantage enjoyed by poorer countries with lower labor standards is certainly worth considering, but

(a) doesn’t really apply to relations within the Group of Seven (although it might apply within the Group of Eight)

(b) is sometimes handled within the G7 by EU-wide standards (just as the Federal government enforces — by itself or in partnership with the states — safety, labor, health and environmental conditions affected by and affecting interstate commerce)

(c) can’t always apply blindly even to Third World countries, as with the recent Bangladeshi factory fires which were a ghastly echo of American disasters like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, right down to the exit doors locked to keep workers at their sewing-machines for their full shift.

I don’t know the details of that fire, but I do feel strongly that it is not up to us to decide if worker protection is adequate in Bangladesh. In some cases, the choice for Bangledesh workers may be no jobs or hazardous jobs.

Zreebs, just as on one side there are limits to what might be reasonable regulations (and what disguised protectionism for local industry), on the other hand, there are limits to your point. For example I doubt that you would think it acceptable to admit goods made, extracted or grown by slave labour or by prison camps for political dissidents and persecuted minorities.

[The ante-bellum United States had an internal market free of interstate trade barriers, which meant that cotton produced by slaves in the South, where slavery was legal, fed the textile mills of abolitionist New England, where that slavery was not. ¶ Similarly, during the American Civil War, the English mill-workers were out of work and starving because Liberal abolitionist English mill-owners refused to use “contraband” cotton from the Confederate States. Many, although not all, of those English mill-workers still supported that refusal despite their desperate situation. Britain eventually found other countries, such as Egypt or India to grow cotton, which could not have helped the American South’s recovery after the Civil War.]

(2) Donald Trump has always been obsessed by the idea that American allies have somehow been cheating Americans for 70 years by freeloading on America’s defense system (including the Bomb) at the same time they’re giving their own exporters unfair advantages over U.S. ones.

He sees every relationship as zero-sum; if the U.S. isn’t hurting the Europeans, Canadians and Mexicans, then they must be hurting America. Which naturally leads to his incredibly soft attitude towards the Russian and North Korean tyrants.

This is in very stark contrast to the sophisticated multilateral system of international organizations and anti-Communist alliances constructed by statesmen of both parties after Republican internationalists in the decade after World War II, such as Eisenhower and Dewey, defeated isolationists like Robert Taft, while winning over some isolationists like Arthur Vandenberg to their side.

What had been the basic bipartisan consensus up until the Vietnam War (1961-75) and even well beyond, was constructed and supported equally by Democrats such as Dean Acheson, George Kennan, Dean Rusk and Cyrus Vance and Republicans such as John Foster Dulles, Christian Herter, Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell.

President Trump rebuked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday, saying that the U.S. will not endorse a joint communique signed with the other Group of Seven (G-7) members at this weekend’s summit and seemingly threatening to impose further tariffs on the country.

“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S…

McCain rips Trump over trade, tells allies: ‘Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t’

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took a jab at President Trump on Saturday after threatening to impose new tariffs on Canada and pulling his endorsement of a joint communique signed with other Group of Seven (G-7) members at this weekend’s summit.

I actually agree with Trump that the US has underperformed on some past trade agreements partially because the Agreements were made by the US for military or foreign policy reasons. As such, I don’t have a problem with us re-evaluating past trade deals.

I remain a free trader, but other countries have protectionist measures in place while they demand free trade from us.

What is it exactly that Justin Trudeau said after Donald Trump’s departure that sent Trump flying way off the handle into deep space ?

Larry Kudlow on CNN State of the Union and CBS Face the Nation this morning made it sound that somehow Trump had been “stabbed in the back” and so mistreated that he was justified in refusing to sign the Joint Communiqué that Kudlow and others had negotiated with the G-6.

At first recital, it sounds to me more like third-grade temper tantrums.

I believe that the US and Canada had a deal in principal with NAFTHA ….
But Trump’s people at the last minute added an 5 year expiration date which Trudeau said he would not agree to…
You know Trump….
No chance to take accolades makes him turn on you….

I listened to Trudeau’s comments after the conference and there was nothing offensive about them at all. There was no justification for Trump, Kudlow or Navarro to attack Trudeau – especially with the tone they used. Incredible.

The Supreme’s let stand Ohio’s method of confirming voters availability thru periodic
Mailing….if you don’t get back to them ?…you come off the ability to vote unless u re-register

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Ohio’s method of removing names from its voter rolls does not violate federal law.
The decision was 5-4.
The law allows the state to send address confirmation notices to voters who have not engaged in voter activity for two years. If a voter returns ….

I have refrained from posting on the Trump/Kim meet …..
While the media is completely taken aback
On this….
I see this a little more Than Trump grandstanding again with little concrete being done….
Trump DOES help Kim’s ego and statue,…

I was watching a documentary this weekend about John Gotti (focused on the story of his son John Jr) and realized that I was pretty young when he was most in the news, a lot of my memories had faded.

What struck me though is how Gotti, (as another son of Queens) with his all brashness and unapologetic arrogance appealed to so many “regular” people in his area and what a beloved figure he was, at least to some, including those who would have absolutely no connection to the Mafia, such as working-class African-Americans as well as those of other races.

There are parallels to the Trump appeal. A lot of people who feel marginalized or as if they will never get ahead in life just gravitate to the “antihero.” They know they will never be like that person but they harbor fantasies of it, and the reality of what kind of person they may be gets blurred and just about anything can be excused away or justified.

It’s a sad commentary on society but certainly not anything that is new in America or unique to America.

It really wasn’t that “cleaned up” or “glorified” actually. It showed the people for what they were, be it positive or negative, in aspects of their lives. It was probably about as “realistic” as one can get when looking at the subject at the time and place it did.

Mitch McConnell is out there praising this as the best period for conservatives since he has been in office. That is pretty strong praise since McConnell came into office under Reagan. And It is not consistent with CG’s view that Trump is a secret Democrat.

I don’t know what McConnell said, but if he means absence of influence or power on behalf of liberal Democrats, he may be right, at least for now. Republicans dominate elected office, at all levels, and across the country, like basically no time before.

If he means the actual advancement of traditional conservative ideas or values, he is off base.

Now that my father is retired, after basically not caring about politics his entire life, exposure to Facebook has turned him into some kind of low-information Trump shill, so I have had to deal with that too.

Many do not use the term conservative. As I have said before, many, both those who supported Trump early on, and those who have come along to defend him since (such as Rush Limbaugh) openly say that Trump killed conservatism and they are happy about it. They say that what Trump has brought about is more appealing than conservatism to the masses and thus conservatism had to be abandoned in order to fight liberalism most effectively.

The ones in SC and elsewhere who were genuinely conservative before may still use the label, because they are still trying to appeal to that old base, and this is definitely a transition period, if it lasts, but the people who are the most “die-hard” of the Trumpists (whether these johnny come latelys say they are or not) reject the label conservative because they realize how non-Republican populist voters catapulted Trump into the nomination, the Presidency, and what they are convinced will be an easy reelection.

Those in elected office will be more circumspect in publicly rejecting the label the way people on blogs or talk radio have, but yeah, all sorts of Republican Members have said things like, “well, I didn’t think he could do it, but he did and we have to respect the movement he has created.”

Nowhere is this more evident than on foreign policy issues.

But sure, most of the people (for now) who are currently in elected office as Republicans are pre-Trump conservatives who find themselves in a pickle. One factor is they are scared to death of the populist base. They look nothing like the people who belong to the country clubs or the megachurches or the Chambers of Commerce that dominated internal GOP politics in recent decades.

Didn’t really get an answer now did you Jack? But, then again, I am sure you didn’t expect one either.

Not really interested in reading/watching people go down the straw man rabbit hole today. Things to do.

But, by way of example, the only Members of Congress who have been critical of their Great Republican Leader’s attack on one of our oldest allies has been a Senator with an incurable disease, that Senator’s best friend, and several other Members who aren’t running for re-election. So, while I appreciate their candor, I won’t hold my breath that the Speaker or Majority Leader will actually follow suit or take any type of contrary action. e

Lindsey Graham himself has been one of the people going on tv saying, “Well, I’m a conservative who disagrees with the President on this, this, and this, but the people in our party are buying what he is selling, so…”

It is mostly the people on social media and talk radio, specifically Rush Limbaugh, who now openly praise Trump for ending “globalism” and “the elite” and for fostering in a movement that is dominated by “working people.” He certainly sounds nothing like what he would have sounded like pre-Trump on those matters.

In regards to members of Congress though, as this is the first election with Trump as the leader of the party, for all intents and purposes, we will see how many of his most die-hard acolytes get nominated.

Thus far, the most die-hard of them have tended to lose primaries, because they are still behind more establishment or more conservative types financially or via campaign infrastructure.

Things at the moment look bad in the South for people like Martha Roby and Mark Sanford though who have opposed Trump.

“Heading into the midterm elections, President Trump has become a one-man litmus test in some of his party’s primaries, imperiling incumbents in races where policy issues seem to matter less to voters than personal loyalty to the president,” the New York Times reports.

“Perhaps nowhere has this been seen more acutely than in Alabama’s Second Congressional District, where Republican voters face a peculiar choice in a runoff: A congresswoman who condemned Mr. Trump but has since voted nearly in lock step with him, or a challenger who was once a Democrat who supported Nancy Pelosi, but now sounds much like the president.”

I can’t believe the most recent praise Trump said of Xi Jinping on top of his continued praise of the North Korean dictator and his former praise of Putin. Calling these people strong leaders is incredulous. And European leaders who believe in Democracy are described by Trump as weak.

It is clear to me that Trump would like to be a dictator. And Republicans will probably let him if they can.

so what is next? Maybe Romney will say something like “I think those comments were inappropriate” and he will receive praise for being a moderate. And CG will compare Trump’s comment to something Clinton said – suggesting some kind of moral equivalency.

I can’t find the thread that Zreebs made the comment on this morning, but he seems to have imagined things into a post I made about Mark Sanford and his being a potential Presidential candidate.

I may have compared Sanford favorably to recent Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson but made no judgment about what a “credible” opposition to Trump would be and I certainly never suggested that I am under the impression that anyone is in the position to defeat Trump in a primary.

Whatever Sanford does, my belief is that Jeff Flake is taking steps to run in the Republican primaries and John Kasich is taking steps to run as an Independent candidate in the general election. I like to have as many available options though as possible, while none of the names mentioned would be an ideal President or candidate in my view, there needs to be some option for those of us who cannot abide the moral and ideological void that is both Donald Trump and the Democrats.

I can’t believe the most recent praise Trump said of Xi Jinping on top of his continued praise of the North Korean dictator and his former praise of Putin. Calling these people strong leaders is incredulous. And European leaders who believe in Democracy are described as weak.

It is clear to me that Trump would like to be a dictator. And Republicans would probably let him if they can.

Maybe Romney will say something like “I think those comments were inappropriate” and he will receive praise for being a moderate. Or

….As staffers drain from the White House and the bulk of President Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers depart, Trump is growing increasingly lonely and mistrustful of those remaining, according to a Tuesday New York Times report.

“The Bushies in the White House are out to get me,” Trump reportedly said about staff holdovers from the Bush administration….

While they were airing a special report on Trump signing an order, they had a graphic on screen that said Paul Manafort had plead guilty to 5 charges of Manslaughter. (He hasn’t.)

That’s either unbelievable incompetency by ABC or more likely someone working in their newsroom was trying to be cute. Now, the Trump cultists have yet another massive talking point about the media and more reason to dismiss anything negative they hear about Trump and his cronies as “fake news.”

Cook Political Report: “A coal country district that voted 73 percent to 23 percent for President Trump might sound like mission impossible for Democrats. Yet this race could turn out be one of the wildest of the cycle. A new Monmouth University poll shows Trump-voting Democratic state Sen. Richard Ojeda leading state Del. Carol Miller 43 percent to 41 percent for the seat Rep. Evan Jenkins vacated to run unsuccessfully for Senate.”

“GOP operatives admit the poll isn’t a fluke, and in this case a slight lead for a Democratic candidate makes some sense.”

Getting a college degree is critical for getting a good job. Of course, one still has to be able to think logically and write competently for most professions – and in some cases, people can get a degree without being able to do either.

But there are smart, competent people who just aren’t able to land a job in their chosen profession.

ABC said today it is moving forward with a spin-off of “Roseanne” without star Roseanne Barr.
The network has given a straight-to-series order to “The Conners,” set to feature returning stars John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman.
Barr will have no financial or creative involvement in the new series, ABC said…

In an interesting development, Trump this morning Tweeted his endorsement of Martha Roby, the Alabama Congresswoman who was forced into a runoff because she refused to vote for Trump in 2016. He also took a shot at her run-off opponent, Bobby Bright, the Obama and Pelosi voting former Democrat Congressman from the district that Roby had unseated a few cycles back. Bright switched parties to get into this race, tugging tightly to Trump all the while.

Now, with one Tweet, Bright goes from the favorite to basically being done for in the race. I think Kevin McCarthy might have asked Trump to do this. Roby and Bright are both probably stunned.

The Pro-Trump Dem switched to become a Pro-Trump Republican just for this race. He may really be a Dem and he may really not be Pro-Trump At least he shouldn’t be now after it all backfired on him today.

We don’t know what he is secretly He was a Democrat and shares some of their beliefs. The party had no problem cashing his checks and going to his weddings. He flipped on a dime as to his assessment of various Democrats. So clearly he has a lot to hide, and that just goes along with his general con-man nature. Stop taking it so personally.

Trump may be a “secret Democrat” on issues like abortion and/or gun control, but I am pretty sure his views on taxes, immigration, ethics and race relations are very Republican. do you seriously think Trump might secretly support the Bernie Sanders tax plan?

when off teleprompter and off message, Trump has endorsed all sorts of Sandersesque policies. He stated a preference for European style Single Payer healthcare as a Presidential candidate. Of course, his acolytes shrugged it off.

The only time I have heard Jack use that term is when he was mocking Corey’s insistence that Trump really isn’t a Republican. Something he spent a great amount of his work day doing yesterday.

Trump is now approaching Ronald Reagan approval levels with the Republican electorate. This whole immigration circus is aimed squarely at a group of fearful older white people afraid of losing their “status” in society. All those little children they see running around at the big box store don’t look like their children at that age. Trump is really good at being at this too. Trump has made the calculation that this will be a base election, and he wants to turn them out. It may work.

Lots of discussion of yesterday of my abilities as a precinct worker. Lots of misinformation too. Let me just say this, my first Presidential campaign was for Carter (on staff) in Ohio in 1976 and I have volunteered (or been on staff) for every campaign since then (except Obama’s last campaign when the Hatch Act prohibited my activity outside of financial support). It’s been fun and, at times very disappointing, like Florida 2000. But given what we have in the White House and running Congress, I will be walking precincts where it might make a difference.

Sitting behind my computer and just talking about politics has never been for me. If you can’t show up, you shouldn’t be talking about it.

We are off to Utah today, then on to Boston and P-town for the rest of the week. I get to see my God daughter get married, a famous carpetbagger is expected at the wedding (her father is a big shot that needs to be sucked up to), and I will get to see my friends from Charlie Baker’s office in Boston. Good gossip all around.

Hopefully Jack will have returned when I get back.

Oh, I forgot, I saw the comment that Melania’s choice in wardrobe might have been a mistake. Nothing a former nude model wears, who happens to be married to an old scrotum, is a mistake. If you recall, at the debate, right after the Access Hollywood pussy tape was release, she wore a Gucci “Pink Pussy Blouse.” The lady who went on television to support he husband’s lie that Obama was born in Kenya doesn’t make wardrobe mistakes. The $39 jacket was no mistake.